The Village of South Jacksonville’s administration purchased a property at auction this past month with some future plans in mind.
Village President Dick Samples announced on Thursday night at the village board meeting that he had purchased a property on behalf of the village located at the corner of Coronado West and Orlando streets for approximately $38,000. The ¾ acre lot currently has a home and garage.
Samples says the plans are to make it a public park: “[We want] to make a park for that area. We’re not talking any lights. We’re not talking restroom facilities. We’re simply talking about a playground for small kids. We are just going to keep the garage [on the property] and have plans on making it into a pavilion, so to speak. It won’t have any walls, but we will throw in a picnic table or something, just because it’s there. It wouldn’t cost us anything to do it.”
Samples says once they get bids on demolition of the house, it would not take a whole lot of money to get the park ready to go. He says the reasoning behind the park is that there is no village amenities on the village’s western edge and there are plenty of children in the neighborhood.
The village board of trustees also approved the solicitation for bids to demolish a property at 1515 South Main Street. Samples says the plans are for that property to be cleaned up and sold to a private entity to return it back into good use. The village has gone through months of litigation on the property, waiting for it to pass through probate. Prior to sale, Samples says the property will be a green space until someone purchases the property.